Variable-Wall Seat Frame Tube for Lighter Complex Bends
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional secondary frame components for passenger seat assemblies have a constant thickness, making them heavy, expensive, and limited in formability, failing to meet design requirements effectively.
Innovation Solution
The use of tubular frame components with variable wall thickness, allowing for increased formability and manufacturability into complex shapes while maintaining mechanical strength, achieved through a design with different thicknesses in various portions and materials like aluminum or stainless steel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If traditional constant thickness frame components are used, then manufacturing is simpler and production is easier, but the components become heavy and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The frame component employs variable wall thickness design where different sections have different thickness values. High-stress areas have greater thickness for strength, while low-stress areas have reduced thickness to minimize weight. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by optimizing each region's thickness to its minimum necessary value rather than using uniform thickness throughout.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the wall thickness parameter along the length of the frame component, transitioning from constant thickness to variable thickness. This parameter variation allows the component to maintain required mechanical strength in critical areas while reducing material usage and weight in non-critical areas, thereby resolving the weight-manufacturing complexity contradiction.
2Strength
If constant thickness frame components are used, then structural strength is maintained, but formability to meet design requirements is limited
Solution Approach 1:
By assigning different thickness values to different sections, the component achieves enhanced formability in thinner sections that can be more easily shaped and bent, while thicker sections maintain the required structural strength. This local differentiation enables complex geometries and design variations that would be difficult or impossible to achieve with uniform thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The variable wall thickness parameter enables greater design flexibility and formability. Thinner sections can be formed into complex curves and shapes more easily, while thicker sections provide structural integrity. This parameter variation throughout the component resolves the contradiction between maintaining strength and achieving design versatility.
3Reliability
If constant thickness frame components are used, then production costs are higher, but structural reliability is ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The variable thickness design places material only where structurally necessary, reducing overall material consumption and production costs. Critical load-bearing areas maintain appropriate thickness for reliability, while non-critical areas use reduced thickness to minimize material usage. This localized material distribution resolves the contradiction between ensuring reliability and reducing production costs.
Solution Approach 2:
By varying the wall thickness parameter along the component length, the design achieves cost reduction through optimized material usage while maintaining structural reliability in critical areas. The parameter changes allow precise control over where material is concentrated, ensuring reliability where needed while minimizing costs where less material is required.
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
Described is a frame component for a passenger seat assembly. The frame includes a tubular frame component having a first portion and a second portion. The bent portion bends the frame at a non-zero angle within a plane. The tubular frame component includes a variable inner diameter such that the first portion of the tubular frame component has a first wall thickness and the bent portion of the tubular frame component has a second wall thickness that is different from the first wall thickness.